The invention relates generally to radar systems.
In ground-based search radar systems with rotating (360°) antennas, a broad fan beam or shaped beam, e.g., a cosecant-squared beam, can be used to efficiently search over large elevation angles. This type of approach to searching for a target over a large angular search area is less time consuming than a single sequential beam approach. Typically, an elevation monopulse channel and an azimuth monopulse channel provide an accurate estimate of elevation angle and azimuth angle, respectively, for a target detected by narrow pencil beams. Unfortunately, accurate elevation estimates cannot be obtained for a target detected by the broad beam. One solution to this problem is to use a stacked beam on receive. The use of a stacked beam is costly, however, as it requires one or two receivers for each beam in the stacked beam.